Pros:
Beauty sits in a scenic multi-use park with plenty of discing opportunities for everyone of all ability levels (3 different 24-hole courses).
This is a great course for a group of mixed abilities. Longer, open field holes give the power throwers a chance to shine while the wooded holes reward the shorter but more accurate throwers. All the wooded holes have definite fairways and most have multiple routes to the pin. I loved that there are no toss-n-pray pinball holes here. Strong wind off Lake Michigan is in play on some of the wide open holes and there are plenty of varied challenges for everyone! The course and surrounding park is very well maintained and there were very few places with thick shule in the rough.
This course is a nice balance of open, partially wooded, and thickly wooded holes with plenty of elevation changes for added fun. The course layout makes excellent use of all the myriad of terrain and vegetation changes available on its end of the park and incorporates a great mix of straight, fade, turn, "S", dogleg, and even J-hook shots. There are many blind shots here due to either foliage or rolling terrain changes, adding tot he challenge factor significantly. However, the wide and well defined fairways and lack of any really heavy shule makes the blind holes fun rather than frustrating. Chances of losing a disc here are pretty minimal. Paths between holes were well worn and obvious, for the most part.
The various entry points to the course were well marked and had rules signage, multi-course scorecards, and obvious pay-to-play boxes with a sufficient stash of envelopes.
Cons:
Holy cow, that climb up to the #1 tee is a doozy!! Stairs of some sort would be really nice, but the view from there is amazing (although not quite as nice as from the Beast #1)!
Maps or more consistency in hole and "next tee" signage would be a benefit for first timers and cement tee pads for all the holes would earn this course a significant jump up in ratings. The alternate holes, while being some of the most interesting on the course, have a very definite "after thought" feel with minimalistic (often hand written) hole signage, few or no directional signs, non worn-in paths, and some rubber tee mats.
The main road into the park comes into play on at least 4 holes (2 along and 2 over), so watch for cars! Throwing along the road twice was bad enough, but having to throw across the road had me really scratching my head. Hikers and dog walkers also frequent areas in and around the disc golf courses.
Other Thoughts:
We went early in the season, before the park was officially open so not all the scorecard boxes actually had cards in them and the restrooms were not open yet, but the supplied port-a-johns were clean and stink free. Even this early in the season the parking lot across the street was full by 3:00.
This scenic, well-kept park with great views of Lake Michigan is a fabulous place bring a picnic and hang out for the day! If you plan to stay all day you may want to pack a light jacket/sweater/hoody as the cold wind off the lake tends to pick up later in the day making sweaty, sunburned bodies chilly. When taken as a whole, the combination of courses at this park would rate at least a 4.5 or 5, and a minimal amount of course work and attention to detail would elevate this to a 5. However, as a first timer there, the frustration of trying to find our way around really took some of the joy out of being here.
*** Update 10/12/09 ***
A second round here with some knowledge of course layout and pin placement made for a much more enjoyable day. The course was once again really clean of trash although there was lots of downed leaves and branches from recent storms. Also, there are no facilities available in the park now that the building is closed for fall and we had a really unpleasant experience with a group behind us and their 2 out-of-control dogs. I LOVE dogs, but not everyone does, and even I was irritated by these 2 constantly following us, barking while putting and driving, and then having to listen to the owners hollering at them at the top of their lungs. Argh! If your pets won't stay close, PLEASE leash them!!!!
*** Update 7/23/11 ***
All tee pads have been updated to concrete although many are shorter than you'd expect. many, many small, low, red "Next Tee" signs have been added along the course making navigation MUCH easier. These 2 changes alone have inspired me to raise my rating a bit as this makes the course much more enjoyable.
However, I still argue that incorrect, shabby, and missing signage on many holes takes away some of the enjoyment and I feel it's absolutely inexcusable for a county park pay-to-play course. Ditto for the trash we picked up along the way.